Helsinki's Giant Bomb Shelters, The War in Ukraine with General Ben Hodges - Episode 4
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The Renew Democracy Initiative, in collaboration with New Debate and General Ben Hodges, brings you the fourth episode of our special series on the war in Ukraine. In this episode, General Hodges travels to Finland for an insightful conversation with Minna Alander. Minna is a Researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. She focuses on the EU Council presidency and EU institutions, Finland, and other Northern EU member states. They offer insights into Finland’s troubled past with Russia during the Cold War, Finland’s special bond with Ukraine, and what Russia’s neighbors can learn from Finland’s pragmatic pessimism in the face of Russian aggression.
After Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, the escalation of hostile Russian behavior towards its neighbors was patently evident. Unfortunately, Ukraine is not the only neighbor Russia has attempted to consume. For many Nordic countries that border Russia, like Ukraine, this was a massive wake-up call. Nations like Finland have no illusions about their geographic reality, its border hugging the Russian motherland. Finnish cautiousness of Russia dates back to the Soviet Union when Russia attempted to invade Finland in November 1939 during what is known as the Winter War. Fortunately, Russia’s attempted conquest failed, resulting in a Finnish culture and domestic security policy defined by what Alander calls “pragmatic pessimism.”
Alander explains that pragmatic pessimism was ingrained into Finnish culture after their taste of Russian hospitality during the Cold War. Today, Finland’s greatest strength is its “whole society approach” towards security. Finland’s ability to rapidly mobilize troops if there is a threat to its territorial integrity emulates this system well. If this threat were ever to become true, almost 200,000 talented men and women would be mobilized at a moment’s notice and ready to fight on the field.
The importance of national security permeates the lives of everyday Finns. As Minna explains, this attitude is built into all parts of life, from critical infrastructure and business to government and administration. Underneath Helsinki, hidden from the bustle of ordinary life, lies critical civil infrastructure in the form of tunnel systems designed to provide shelter to over 900,000 people. Keep in mind Helsinki is only a city of 600,000. Bridges throughout the nation are intended to be detonated to obstruct enemy movement. The critical point of these precautions is that if or when something like the Russian invasion of Ukraine happens on Finnish soil, there will be no surprises because they will be prepared.
As Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, General Hodges notes the desperation of the Kremlin in their decisions to continually draw out their invasion. Even as troops prepare to evacuate Kherson, the Kremlin has resorted to deploying Iranian drones. These drones constantly bomb Ukrainian cities, murder civilians, and strike power facilities, leaving thousands without power during the onset of the Winter. Russia will continue to try and exhaust the spirit of Ukraine. Hodges calls on the West to hold steadfast in this fight for freedom and continue to deliver to Ukrainians everything they need to finish the job. As Russia failed to break the will of the Finnish in 1939, so too will they fail in Ukraine.
Presented by:
Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges. United States Army
Filmed and Edited by:
Dan Poole
Sound Design by:
JD Evans
VFX by:
Smith Robinson Multimedia
Produced by:
Matt Dreher
Cort Kristensen
Dan Poole
Executive Producers:
Uriel Epshtein
Noor Greene
Additional Graphics:
Gabriel Strobel
Licensed Archive by:
Pond 5
Planet Labs
Licensed Music by:
Audio Network
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